University of Massachusetts Amherst ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014 1-1-2005 Representin' for Latino students : culturally responsive pedagogies, teacher identities, and the preparation of teachers for urban schools. Jason G. Irizarry University of Massachusetts Amherst Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_1 Recommended Citation Irizarry, Jason G., "Representin' for Latino students : culturally responsive pedagogies, teacher identities, and the preparation of teachers for urban schools." (2005). Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014. 5726. https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_1/5726 This Open Access Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014 by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. For more information, please contact [email protected]. REPRESENTIN’ FOR LATINO STUDENTS: CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE PEDAGOGIES, TEACHER IDENTITIES, AND THE PREPARATION OF TEACHERS FOR URBAN SCHOOLS A Dissertation Presented by Jason G. Irizarry Submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Massachusetts Amherst in partial fulfillment Of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF EDUCATION September 2005 Language, Literacy, and Culture Copyright by Jason G. Irizarry 2005 All Rights Reserved REPRESENTIN’ FOR LATINO STUDENTS: CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE PEDAGOGIES, TEACHER IDENTITIES, AND THE PREPARATION OF TEACHERS FOR URBAN SCHOOLS A Dissertation Presented by JASON G. IRIZARRY Approved as to style and content by: DEDICATION This dissertation is dedicated to: Lydia Rivera, my grandmother y mama de crianza, for teaching me how to dream Roslyn Rivera, my mother, for instilling in me the confidence to pursue my dreams Katie Irizarry, my wife and life partner, for limitless love and support Javier Jay and Alex Emilio Irizarry, my sons—May all of your dreams come true! ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am profoundly grateful to many individuals for their support during the dissertation process. First and foremost, I have to thank to the 10 “exceptional teachers of Latino students” who generously gave of themselves and participated in this research. They shared narratives detailing aspects of their personal lives and work as teachers in the hope that this research project will lead to improvements in teacher preparation and, consequently, urban education. Their dedication to their students and to their own personal and professional development as teachers is inspiring. I must also acknowledge my friends, colleagues, and writing group partners, Patty Bode and John Raible. For their thorough reviews of my work at various stages of development, the insights they shared during “brainstorming” sessions, and overall support and encouragement, I am extremely appreciative. Although our career paths may lead us in different directions, we will always be connected. I am also indebted to the members of my dissertation committee, M. Idalf Torres and Linda Marchesani, for their valuable suggestions and thought-provoking comments. Most notably, I would like to thank Sonia Nieto, my academic advisor and Chair of my committee. The richness of her scholarship, support for her students, and dedication to her family will continue to serve as a guidepost for my development as a scholar in the academy. Finally, but most significant, I must acknowledge my family- too many to name here- for the sacrifices they have made and the support that they have provided to help me achieve my personal and professional goals. v ABSTRACT REPRESENTIN’ FOR LATINO STUDENTS: CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE PEDAGOGIES, TEACHER IDENTITIES, AND THE PREPARATION OF TEACHERS FOR URBAN SCHOOLS SEPTEMBER 2005 JASON G. IRIZARRY, B.A., SIENA COLLEGE M.A., STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK AT ALBANY Ed.D., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST Directed by Professor Sonia Nieto This dissertation critically examines the autobiographies of ten teachers identified using the community nomination method (Foster, 1991) as exemplary teachers of Latino students to make recommendations for teacher preparation programs preparing educators to work in urban schools. The study is informed by postmodern understandings of culture and identity and draws heavily from Hip-Hop/Urban culture—a site from which, I argue, many urban students draw to create their identities. A review of the literature regarding culturally responsive pedagogies demonstrates the need for teachers to affirm students’ cultural identities but also highlights the focus much of the research in this area places on race, thus, possibly contributing to a reification of singular aspects of students’ identities. This study seeks to expand the discourse by forwarding cultural connectedness as a framework for practicing culturally responsive pedagogies in ways that do not essentialize culture and are informed by the multiple sites from which students draw to create hybrid cultural identities. It also stresses the potential for teachers who are not members of the same racial or ethnic group as their students to become “culturally connected” and improve their practice. Postmodernism and Hip/Hop-Urban culture vi informed the creation of Represent(ations), a hybrid methodology I created to employ in this dissertation. The findings suggest that teacher preparation programs need to be reconceptualized to include, in addition to content knowledge, a specific focus on teacher identity development and restructured by making changes to the curriculum, recruiting and retaining more pre-service candidates of color, and diversifying teacher preparation faculty to include teacher educators of color and those with teaching experiences in urban settings. Transforming urban teacher preparation based on this research has the potential to cultivate more teachers who “represent” for Latino students. Vll TABLE OF CONTENTS DEDICATION .iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.v ABSTRACT.vi LIST OF FIGURES.xii CHAPTER 1. REPRESENTIN’ FOR LATINO STUDENTS.1 Overview of the Study.1 Statement of the Problem.4 Purpose of the Study.8 Highlighting the Autobiographies of Teachers of Color.9 Methodology/Research Design.12 Theoretical Framework.15 Tensions between the Theoretical Framework and the Methodology.17 Data Collection.18 Data Analysis.19 Limitations.20 Significance.22 Conclusion.26 Organization of Following Chapters.26 Chapter Summary.28 2. CULTURE AND CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE PEDAGOGIES.29 Setting the Stage.30 A Plethora of Pedagogies.32 Culturally Responsive Pedagogy and Latino Students.42 The Importance of Language in CRP.46 i Challenging Static Notions of Culture.52 Urban/Hip-Hop Culture and Culturally Responsive Pedagogy.55 vm Teacher Autobiographies and Teacher Preparation.59 Chapter Summary.63 3. METHODOLOGY: REPRESENTIN’ AND REPRESENT(ATION).64 Representation and Postmodernism.66 Representin’ and Hip-Hop/Urban Culture.69 Represent(ations) as a Methodological Approach.74 Setting.77 The City of Springfield.77 The Springfield Public Schools.79 Exemplary Teachers of Latino Students.81 Chapter Summary.82 4. REPRESENT(ATIONS) OF “HOME GROWN” TEACHERS.84 Jennifer Helmsley: “Mad Bilingual”.85 Edward Black: “In the Middle of the Hill”.92 William Soto: “On the Cusp”.100 James Talbert: “In between Two Worlds”.110 Geraldo Pena: “No Frontin’—Be Who You Are”.119 Chapter Summary.129 5. REPRESENT(ATIONS) OF “TRANSPLANTED” TEACHERS.130 Mario Cummings: “Representing a Whole Other Experience”.131 Adelaide Morales: “You Have to Change”.142 Crystal Castro: “We are Part of the Same Community” .149 Sara Silver: “Being Authentic”.157 June Hamilton: “Inserting] Myself and My Children into the Middle of the Pod.. 168 Chapter Summary.177 6. ANALYSIS OF REPRESENT(ATIONS).179 Making Connections through Language.181 Language Cipher.182 Making Connections through Shared Community Membership.185 Shared Community Membership Cipher.186 ix Making Connections through Curriculum.190 Curriculum Cipher.190 Making Connections through Multiple Forms of Knowledge Building.194 Multiple Forms of Knowledge Building Cipher.195 Making Connections through Hybrid Culture.197 Hybrid Culture Cipher.198 Making Connections through Representin’.202 Representin’ Cipher.203 Chapter Summary.205 7. REWIND, PLAY, PAUSE, AND FAST FORWARD: FINDINGS, IMPLICATIONS, RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH.206 Rewind: Recapping the Journey.206 Play: Answering the Research Questions.207 Addressing Research Question 1: Getting Connected.208 Making Connections through the Curriculum.210 Finding 1: Culturally connected teachers create culturally responsive curriculum.210 Finding 2: Culturally connected teachers address sociopolitical factors in their students’ lives.211 Hybridity and the “C” in CRP (Culturally Responsive Pedagogy).213 Finding 3: Culturally connected teachers affirm hybrid cultural identities.213 Finding 4: Culturally connected teachers adopt hybrid teacher identities.213 Language.214 Finding 5: Culturally connected teachers create space for the use of multiple languages.214 Finding 6: Culturally connected teachers are language learners.215 x Addressing Research Question 2: Writing and Re-writing Your Autobiography.216 Community Connection.217 Finding 7: “It’s All Hood”—Culturally connected teachers make community connections.217 Finding 8: Culturally connected teachers share membership in socially constructed communities with their students.218 Multiple Forms of Knowledge Building.219 Finding 9: Culturally connected teachers engage